An interpretation of Max Weber's analysis of bureaucracy and rationalisation

Abstract

This thesis examines the Weberian concepts of bureaucracy and rationalisation within the overall framework of what Roth and Wittich (1968) have called the sociology of domination. It is the contention of this essay that Weber's conceptualisation of bureaucracy and rationalisation are so thoroughly intermeshed that one could not adequately undertake an exegesis of one without definitive reference to the other. What I attempt to provide in the following pages is a prolegomenon - a creative sketch of Weber's organisational archetype through the prism of rationalisation. As Western capitalism is itself an integral part of the latter and a significant aspect of the Weberian Weltanschauung, I have given it specific attention. But we must remain mindful that capitalism had significance for Weber almost solely in terms of its relationship to the process of rationalisation. From an analytic point of view it is insufficient to provide a sketch of Weber's thoughts on bureaucracy, rationalisation and capitalism without indicating their connections. Taking our lead from Wittgenstein, perspicacious representation is preferred to collation. What I have sought to do is to examine seminal elements of Weber's political commentary and to do so with brief reference to other parts of his sociology. Indeed, I am of the opinion that so theoretically unified is the work of Weber that to examine any significant aspect of his enormous schema is, of necessity, to reach out and touch (in part) the entirety of his schematic representations. Nonetheless, I have isolated a particular thematic which will be pursued throughout the course of this essay. The theme concerns an acknowledgement of the bureaucratization of culture as it is reflected in bureaucracy's hegemonic rise to power in an age that prides itself on its rationality. As the world becomes bureaucratized it becomes closed. That which is not subject to bureaucratic rationality is no longer credible nor legitimate. The bureaucratization of life is no small matter. Its ramifications are far reaching and deadly : the diversity of cultural life is threatened and all hope of maintaining a plurality of values and perspectives is seriously challenged. The bureaucratic edifice is expansive and over time has taken over much of the states role until the two are virtually synonymous. Such an unprecedented concentration of power (cognitive and physical) is without historical equal. Ours is so poignantly, an age of unfreedom. In this paper analysis is tied to prescriptive evaluation, particularly on reaching the discussion about Weber's vision of the future. I do not wish to become overly involved in the debate concerning disestablishment (de-bureaucratization and de-institutionalisation) theses, though I do want to examine Weber's vision and its validity within a power context that gives due emphasis to the humanitarian and tragic elements of his oeuvre. This cognitive leaning informs the meta-theoretical assumptions that underpin and cohere the Weberian frame of reference and its concomitant images of man and society. I am not the first to see in Weber's concept of rationalisation the seminal kernel of his political sociology. Nor I suspect am I the last to see in the advance of bureaucracy the inevitable encapsulation of humanity in ein stahlhartes Gehause (an iron cage).